When a person decides to visit a healthcare facility or hospital, the intake forms mark the beginning of the interaction that will take place with the healthcare staff. There, admission workers must collect the patient’s information, ensuring that all the data collected is correct.
In today’s article we tell you everything you need to know about patient intake forms. In addition, we also reveal the main advantages you stand to gain if you decide to digitize this important phase of the healthcare process.
Patient Intake forms: Here’s what you need to know
Hundreds of patient intake forms are handled by Spanish healthcare on a daily basis. In a healthcare system that serves millions of people annually, the volume of forms becomes a somewhat difficult task to manage. The variety of forms is enormous, so it is essential to manage them as efficiently as possible. One of them is the admission form, and today we will explain all its details.
What is a medical admission form?
A medical admission form is a document that a patient must fill out when he or she is about to start treatment at a doctor’s office. In practice, it serves as a diagnostic test of the patient’s entire condition, helping to better guide the course of treatment for the individual.
Who can use the intake forms?
As an admission and reception manager in a hospital or healthcare facility, are you wondering if there are any areas that are not eligible for this document? This is not the case. Some of the specialties that can provide intake forms to their patients are:
- General practitioners
- Nursing professionals
- Therapists
- Psychologists
- Many more specialists
And if your area of specialization does not appear on the list you just read, don’t worry. Just as each area is responsible for a specific field and medicine is flexible, the patient intake forms are also flexible and can be adapted to your needs, following the rules and regulations of the Spanish Ministry of Health, Consumption and Social Welfare.
What aspects should this document cover?
A priori, there are no specific guidelines that indicate all the sections that should be included in an admission form. Rather, it will depend on the template chosen by the responsible medical center or specialist. However, there are a number of general points that almost all patient intake forms share:
- Patient’s personal and demographic data
- Medical history and family history
- Reason and goals of treatment
- Insurance information
Beyond these points, it is also important to emphasize that the form is not restricted to any age group. That is, any patient, regardless of age, should make use of the form if they are to receive comprehensive medical treatment. This clarification includes infants, children, adolescents, young people, adults and the elderly.
Why is the electronic signature on patient intake forms useful?
In healthcare, document management is a key phase that can define the patient experience and the operational efficiency of the healthcare facility. The implementation of technologies such as electronic signatures not only modernizes the system, but also brings benefits that translate into a significant improvement in efficiency and productivity.
These are the main advantages of using electronic signatures in the industry:
- Improves patient satisfaction. Until now, patients who came to the health center or hospital had to sign a form by hand before going to the specialist’s office. But with technological tools, the time spent in waiting rooms can be reduced, since patients can fill it in before they go to the health center.
- More efficient document organization. With electronic signatures, you will say goodbye to incidents related to the loss of medical documentation. In addition, by incorporating techniques such as encryption, you ensure that only authorized persons have access to sensitive and confidential patient information.
- More efficient interdepartmental communication. By digitizing user data, all departments that need it can have access to it and communicate with each other for possible queries. In this way, the coordination of medical care is more organized and better.
- Saving unnecessary costs related to the use of paper, such as printing paper, ink cartridges or document scanners.
Tired of making your patients wait? Get ahead with Viafirma
Viafirma, as a national and international reference company, offers you the possibility of integrating its digital solutions in the health sector, being an efficient and agile tool for health professionals and patients. Your patients will be able to sign the admission forms electronically (as well as other documents such as informed consents) and they will access the consultation earlier, saving time and gaining peace of mind. Trust our team and our technology, and the results you get will do the rest.